


This Time Around

by leveragus



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-02-10
Packaged: 2017-11-27 13:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/662646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leveragus/pseuds/leveragus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the episode The Cross My Heart Job, Sophie goes to Nate's apartment with interesting news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Nate was still working on his ship model when he heard the front door open. He looked up to see his grifter come in.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I wasn't really expecting you tonight."

She just walked towards the table and sat on the nearest chair. "A girl can change her mind"

"Sure, but you seemed pretty pissed earlier when I suggested you to stay over" Her reaction bothered him a bit too. He was sure she was going to spend the evening with him, especially since the case hit him so bad making him think about Sam.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just tired and needed a good few hours of sleep."

"So you felt guilty and thought about coming here to check on me" He read through the lines and he didn't know if to be angry or pleased about it.

"Like I said Nate, you're a thief now, you can take care of yourself. But I am relieved to see that you are not passed out on the bed with a bottle of scotch."

He lifted a piece of wood he was gluing. "New hobby."

"So I see" she inspected his work. "What's with you and puzzles?"

He shrugged "I just need to keep my mind occupied. How is your sunburn?" He changed the subject.

"Better" She sighed finally ready to reveal the real reason she had dropped by. She thought long about it, she even carefully planned her words but in none of the scenarios she imagined in her mind did their conversation end well. "Nate, we need to talk."

He soon recognized her serious tone and stopped working on the model.

"Sounds important. I know we haven't really defined our relationship, but usually when a woman starts a conversation with the words "we need to talk", it means she is breaking up with you." He looked uncertain. He got that he definitely wasn't the easiest person to have a relationship with. Something that Maggie pointed out to him thousands of times. Actually so many times that maybe the divorce shouldn't have been such a surprise. But he hoped that with Sophie things would have been different. She did convince him to start a friends with benefits relationship, which was great. Amazing sex with no real commitment, who could say no to that? But of course things couldn't stay simple with them. One dinner there, another movie night here and suddenly it felt to him like he was in a relationship. She was still telling him that they were not dating- he really needed to check out her definition of dating, because her dictionary was totally different from his- and the way she handled things with the rest of the team was still unclear to him. But he kept his mouth shut and just started going with the flow. As long as they were both happy, everything was great. But now, she was breaking up with him? What did he do?

She shook her head. "I'm not breaking up with you. I…" she stopped not really sure how to continue. "Recently, I haven't been feeling so good. I'm always tired, sometimes dizzy.."

"Sophie, are you sick?" Okay so no breakup but something else was scaring him now. "Did you see a doctor?" Please don't let it be Sam all over again, he mentally pleaded.

"In Montserrat it finally hit me what could be wrong with me." She took a deep breath. "So when we arrived back in Boston I went to a pharmacy and bought a pregnancy test." She finally said the words.

Nate stood still, mouth open. "And?" he whispered. Even if he knew it was a stupid question. She certainly wouldn't have been there if it had been negative.

"And it was positive. Nate, I'm pregnant." The words still felt strange to her. After she finally decided to take the test, she stood there hours looking at the results, a part of her wishing it could magically change. She wasn't really expecting to be a mother, certainly not in this phase of her life. But apparently fate had different ideas and was really messing with her.

Nate was still shocked. "Pregnant? As in expecting a baby?"

"Yes, Nate." She snorted. "How many different definition of the word pregnant do you know?" Really, men. Say the word pregnant and even the most intelligent one suddenly loses all his IQ.

"How did it happen?" he was still shaken about the all idea.

"I'm pretty sure it happened the usual way" Sophie tried to stay calm. Obviously he was still trying to process the all thing. She went through that a couple of hours before. "By the way, it's all your fault."

"Wait? What?" he replied back annoyed. "I know it definitely takes two to tango."

"And I did my part by taking birth control pills religiously, of course your guys had to be overachievers" She pointed out to him.

He smiled a bit proud until he remembered that a baby wasn't really planned. "How far along are you?"

"Well, according to the pregnancy test, five weeks." She could see him mentally working out the date. "Don't even try to figure out when it was conceived. It's not like we haven't been very…. active…"

"It could have been that night with the chocolate." He smirked.

She blushed remembering that night. They certainly had fun after the chocolate festival. Who knew that chocolate could be used in so many different and interesting ways? She cleared her voice embarrassed. "Well, tomorrow I'll call my ob-gyn and set an appointment to check everything."

He nodded "So…"

"So"

Now they really had to talk about how they felt with the all situation and most importantly how to deal with it.

"Look," she went first. "I know this is not exactly planned and we certainly don't live the kind of lives suitable for raising a child…"

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" he stopped her hesitantly.

"What?" she looked at him in question, then she understood what he was implying. "No, no, I'm not thinking about having an abortion. Of course not" She quickly shook her head.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"Did you really think I was going to say that?" she wondered. Did he really think that she didn't want their baby?

"I wasn't sure where you were going with your speech. Obviously at the end you'll have my support with anything you decide. It's your body I can't really impose my decision, but…" he looked down. It wasn't easy for him to open up.

Sophie covered his hand supportively, silently giving him the courage to go on.

He finally looked up with teary eyes. "But I've already lost a child and I don't want to lose another one."

"Oh, Nate" Sophie leaned over her chair to embrace him. She held him tight. She knew it had to be difficult for him to talk about this. It had been strange when he opened up about Sam at the airport. "That's why I was hesitant about telling you this. I know it's not easy for you, with everything that happened with Sam. And this case did bring some memories back."

She pulled back from their embrace and gently cupped his cheek in her hand. "It's going to be fine, Nate"

He slowly nodded and looked away not too comfortable on being this vulnerable. "It's late. How about we call it a night?"

Sophie nodded knowing to give him space for now. "Do you want me to leave?"

"Of course not. I'm not throwing you out at this hour!" He started putting the model ship things away.

"You know," she helped him. "It would have been a lot more charming if you told me "of course not, I can't stay away from you. I need you here""

He smirked. "I thought that went without saying."

"Hmmm… sure. You know, you should be more kind to the woman carrying your child" she patted his cheek playfully while they made their way up the stairs.

"Wow, it really didn't take you long to use the pregnancy card. I think you've just broken some kind of record."

"Get used to it, mister. This pregnancy is not going to be easy for you, I still need to punish you."

They entered Nate's bedroom and started their night routine.

"Again with this being my fault. You know, I didn't really hear you complain whenever this baby was conceived."

"Details" and she stopped suddenly. "Nate, we're having a baby" the circumstance they were in had hit her unexpectedly.

"So it seems." He walked closer to her understanding that she was the one panicking now. He put his hands on her shoulder and made her look into his eyes. "Sophie, it's going to be okay. We can do this"

She smiled and nodded. Then she brought her arms around his body and hugged him nestling her face in his chest. Nate held her tight to him protectively.

"How are we going to tell the others?" she whispered in his body.

He rubbed his hands up and down her back giving her warmth and comfort. "We'll think about it after we have the confirmation that there's a baby"

She slowly nodded and gave him a small peck on the lips. "Let's get into bed, it's freezing"

Once they settled under the covers they snuggled in each other arms. Nate had been actually surprised to discovered that Sophie liked to snuggle in bed. It happened one evening when Sophie stayed the night. He couldn't sleep so he sneaked downstairs to read a bit not wanting to wake her up by turning on the lights. After just a couple of minutes she came down and called him.

"What are you doing down here?" she asked sleepy.

"I didn't want to wake you up with the lights."

"I can sleep with the light on, but not with a cold bed." She replied. "Get back up here"

Nate closed the book and went upstairs. She took his hand and dragged him under the covers. So he continued reading with one arm wrapped around Sophie who was peacefully sleeping against his chest. From that day on he never tried to sneak downstairs. There were definitely worst ways to spend the night.

"Good night" He put his arm around her.

"'night" she whispered back.


	2. Chapter 2

Nate looked around a bit self-conscious. All around him there were young pregnant women. Some were very pregnant, like I'm-just-about-to-give-birth pregnant. He didn't really went with Maggie to her ob-gyn appointments when she had been expecting Sam. Most of the time he had been in Europe. He did have to go to pre-birth lessons though, Maggie didn't really give him any choice. But he did promise Sophie that he was going to be there for her, so there he was.

Sophie took the seat next to him. "So , we have to fill this form."

"What alias are you going to use?" Nate asked taking a peak at the form.

"Nate, this is my regular ob-gyn. She knows me as Sophie" she remarked giving him a Seriously? look.

"Ah, what do you need to know?"

"Well, I know you name, place and date of birth…. " she wrote down.

"Wait, how do you know my social security number?"

"Please!" she shrugged. "Nope, I think I already know everything"

"Geez, and I don't even know you're real name" he whispered hoping that she couldn't hear him

"I know that you can't remember that night, Nate" she remarked without looking up. "and it's going to be a long time before I think you've earned the right for me to tell you again"

"Can I use the pregnancy card?"

Sophie just lifted her eyes from the form and glared at him.

"Sophie Devereaux?" a nurse called. "The doctor is ready for you"

Nate and Sophie both got up and followed her down a corridor and then entered through second door on the right.

"Sophie!" A middle age red haired woman greeted them. "How are you doing?"

"Hi, Elizabeth" Sophie smiled at her and shook her hand. She has always liked the friendly doctor. "I didn't think I was going to see you so soon" she joked.

"Yeah, from your form I read you suspect your pregnant?" she read the chart putting her glasses on. "You took a home pregnancy test?"

"Yeah, it came back positive and I'm more than a week late, so here I am"

"And I gathered that you're the maybe future father" doctor Elizabeth Stone eyed Nate.

"Nathan Ford, pleased to meet you." Nate smiled nervously and shook her hand.

"Well Sophie, you've got yourself a very nice man here" she winked at the grifter. "Let's see if there's a baby then and how it's doing. First of all Sophie, I need you to get changed and put that gown. You know where the changing room and bathroom are. Then a nurse will come and take a blood sample, after that we can finally have a look with an ultrasound."

Sophie nodded and started gathering her things. "Are you sure you want to stay here?" she asked Nate who was still nervously jumping on his feet.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll just wait here." He sat down on a chair but his leg kept moving nervously up and down.

"Nate" Sophie put a hand on his back "Relax" and she kissed his cheek.

Fifteen minutes later Sophie was laying on the exam table while Nate was sitting on a chair next to her.

"Okay, let's have a look" doctor Stone squirted some gel on Sophie's naked abdominal.

Sophie gasped at the cold feeling and Nate promptly took her hand in his. "You're okay?"

She just nodded as the doctor ran the probe over her.

After a couple of minutes she confirmed their suspicions "Yep, here is the fetus" she pointed at the screen. "I'll say it's between 5 and 6 weeks along."

Sophie smiled at the image in front of her. She couldn't real see anything but just the knowledge that there was a little person growing inside of her made her happy and she started crying.

"Soph?" Nate asked worriedly.

"I'm just happy Nate, it's…" she couldn't contain her emotions. "… it's a fantastic feeling"

Nate smiled and bought her hand to his lips. "I think you're already going hormonal on me" he grinned.

She chuckled. "Oh stop it!" she lightly hit him with her other hand.

"Well, congratulations you two! I will prescribe pre-natal vitamin pills for you and schedule your next appointment. I would like to do an amnio test too, just to be on the safe side. The desk will call you this evening with the blood results."

Sophie got herself cleaned and went to get back dressed in the changing room.

Nate remained in the room dump fooled. He was going to be a father again. He didn't know how he could feel happy and scared at the same time.

"First child?" Elizabeth Stone interrupted his thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh no, I…" why did she have to ask him that? " I had a child in my previous marriage, but…" he looked down uncomfortably.

The woman soon understood and realized her mistake. "Oh, sorry… how did it happen, if I may ask? I'm just wondering for any genetic…"

"Cancer" he retorted back. "He got ill when he was eight"

Stone just slowly nodded and Sophie returned in the room. She soon noticed the gloomy atmosphere and Nate sad and lost look.

"Everything okay?" She asked uncertain putting a hand on his arm.

Nate just put a fake smile on. "Sure"

"Okay Sophie, the desk will tell you everything. If there aren't any problems I will see you back in a month."

They said their goodbyes and Nate and Sophie took the lift going back towards the hospital hall.

Nate's silence and absent gaze were scaring Sophie. "Nate, is everything okay? Did you change your mind about…?"

"No, no. It's just…" he sighed not knowing what to say. " She asked me if this was my first child so then I had to talk about…"

"…Sam." She understood. "You want to talk about it?"

"Not really. I'm just not ready yet" He wondered if he's ever going to ready to talk about his son without falling apart. "I'm happy about the baby, Sophie. I really am" He reassured her.

Sophie nodded and smiled at him. She gave him a quick kiss before the lift's door opened.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As soon as they entered Nate's apartment they were ambushed by Parker who jumped in front of them. "Where were you?" she asked with a small tone of accusation.

Sophie gasped. "Parker! Do you really have to scare me to death?"

"So, where were you guys?" Hardison repeated the question from where he was standing beside the monitors.

"Can't we have a bit of privacy?" Nate complained. "It's not really any of your business"

"I told them that" Eliot pointed out from his post behind the kitchen counter.

"Since you two got together, you have like this secret life" Parker frowned.

"It's called doing things as a couple, Parker. We're not trying to shut you out. If you really want to know we went out for brunch" Sophie lied to her.

"Yeah," Hardison exclaimed. "Because the hospital is very famous for their cafeteria's brunches" he joked.

"Hardison," Nate shouted "Did you track our phones down? I thought we established that you can do it only in case of emergency."

"It was an emergency!" Parker intervened. "We didn't know where you were."

"I'd like to point out that I told them it was a bad idea. That you guys needed privacy. It was all them" Eliot tried to get out of trouble.

"So, who's sick?" Hardison asked not really feeling guilty about invading their privacy.

"I'm surprised that you didn't hack into the hospital files" Sophie sighed frustrated. She sat down on the kitchen chair trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.

"Well, even I wouldn't go that far!"

"So…" Parker insisted.

Nate and Sophie exchanged a look. "Might as well tell them already. It's not like we can hide it"

"The hospital appointment was for me" Sophie began. "I'm pregnant" she finally told them.

Parker squeaked with happiness. "Cool, we're going to have a baby thief!" She jumped.

Hardison was still shocked with his mouth opened. "Wow, that's…" he stammered. "You're guys are nasty! But hey, if you're happy, I'm happy!" He went to give Sophie a big hug.

"Thank you Hardison. We are happy." Sophie returned his hug.

"Congrats, bro!" He tried to give Nate a hug, but the mastermind stepped back.

"Let's just have a friendly hand shake." They shook hands but Hardison managed to sneak a semi hug.

Eliot stood behind the counter watching the scene. He hadn't said anything yet.

"Eliot?" Sophie wondered.

He put on a false smile and went to give Sophie a hug. "Congratulations, Sophie!" he whispered in her ear. But Sophie wasn't fooled. Has soon as they separated she gave him a look to say: I'll talk to you later.

Eliot then gave a firm hand shake to Nate. "Congratulation." His voice tense.

"Thank you" Nate replied wondering what was wrong with his hitter.

"So, tell us, when did you guys found out? When will the baby be here? And when can I teach it how to pick a lock?" Parker asked without breathing.

"Wow, slow down Parker" Sophie giggled. "We got the confirmation this morning, but we have had our suspicions for a couple days. I'm nearly six weeks pregnant, so there's still a long way to go. And we'll see about the pick locking."

"Oh, come on" Hardison whined. "Like our team mascot won't know how to pick lock or hack!"

"Team mascot? That's my kid you're talking about" Nate replied firmly.

"Oh, how cute!" Parker commented "Nate is already going all papa bear on us!"

Sophie smiled. "It is adorable, isn't it?"

"Hey," Nate frowned. "I don't do cute nor adorable"

Sophie gave him a quick kiss. "Sure you don't, love"

"Hey, you two stop it. Didn't we agree not to have PDA in front of innocent eyes?"

"Hardison, shut up!" Nate gave Sophie another kiss both to annoy the hacker and because her lips were so inviting.

"Why don't we all go out for lunch?" Sophie suggested. "I'm a bit famish."

"Well, you are eating for two now." Hardison noted.

"I'm in" Parker skipped to the door. "Nate's paying!" Hardison right behind her.

"Wait? What?" Nate took Sophie's hand and together they went to the door.

"Eliot, you're coming?" the grifter turned around since she noticed he wasn't following them.

"Hmmm… sure"


	3. Chapter 3

"So, which one of us is going to talk to Eliot?" Nate asked entering his apartment soon followed by Sophie. The lunch out has certainly been awkward. Hardison and Parker were already making all sorts of weird plans for the baby. Hardison even promised Sophie to download for her books about pregnancy and what to expect with an infant. Parker couldn't wait for the baby to be there already. They tried to explain to her that it wasn't going to be like a puppy, but the baby was going to be an actual human being. "Of course, I know that!" she had snorted back. Eliot, on the other hand, had been different. He had stayed quiet during the whole lunch occasionally nodding or grumping about something.

"I guess I'll go first" Sophie sighed. "If it doesn't work you can try the more brutal approach."

"Hmm…" Nate agreed and stood there looking at her, hands in his trousers' pockets.

"Now?" she asked grudgingly. She had already taken her shoes and coat off and was ready for a quiet afternoon in bed.

"I saw him enter the bar. Better get this thing out of the way before it becomes too serious." He put his hands on her waist and began nuzzling her neck with small kisses. "I'll make it up to you"

She moaned at his touch even though she perfectly knew that he was manipulating her. "Promise?"

"I'll be upstairs waiting for you and I'll be at your beck and call for the rest of the day" he won her over.

"Well, with an offer like that how can I refuse." She went to kiss his lips but at the last second she pulled away teasingly. "You know I'm the master of this game, Nathan Ford" she put her shoes back on and exited the room.

Nate just stood there wondering if the all thing wasn't just her playing him all along from the very beginning and he didn't actually know who really won that round.

"That woman is going to be the death of me!" he whispered.

Sophie found Eliot sitting at a corner in the bar, his usual bottle of beer tight in his hand. She went to counter to order a lemon soda and went to sit next to him. Thankfully the pub was busy so there others weren't going to pay much attention to them.

"Have you started brooding down here too? I have always thought it was only a Nate's thing" she tried a simple approach.

"Sophie" He acknowledge her. He slightly change posture in his chair putting at least a physical defence between them.

The waitress brought Sophie her drink and she immediately took a sip of it. "You want to tell me what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong" he replied too quickly.

"Yeah, want to try that again? This time without the lying."

"It's just…. How could you two have been so stupid!" he finally let out.

"Okay?" Sophie was a little taken back.

"A baby? Seriously? With the kind of lives we lead?" he pointed out angrily. "Can't you two have been a bit more careful with protection?"

"Okay, first of all calm down. Second, I'm not going into details about mine and Nate's sex life…"

"Please don't" Eliot interrupter with a disgust frown.

Sophie just glared at him "… but we have been careful about birth control, it just happened. But even though it wasn't planned, it doesn't mean it wasn't a beautiful unexpected surprise."

"How can you say that? What if something happens to you or the baby? If Nate loses either of you, he won't be able to pull himself back together this time."

"What makes you think anything could happen to us?"

"Any con could go wrong. Then there's Latimer and whatever plan he has for us. I'm the protector of this team, what if I can't save you? Nate will blame me"

"Oh, Eliot…" she whispered finally understanding the problem. "We will always be a team, a family. I've got all four of you to protect me and I'm not going to let anything happen to this baby. You don't think that Nate has already thought of everything? He will practically micro manage every step of my pregnancy and after it's born, I don't think he will let this baby leave his sight any time soon."

"Yeah," he agreed softly. He could already imagine the extremes Nate will go to make sure that Sophie and the baby will be okay, and that was what he was worry about. But his two friends seemed happy and if keeping them happy meant that he had to work double or use extreme measures, so be it. He smiled gently thinking about it, having a baby around might not be so bad. He missed his nephew. He could still remember how good it felt holding the little thing in his arms. He hated leaving his sister and her son behind, but it was for their own good.

"So," Sophie put a hand on top of his. "All better now?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded "Everything is okay. I'm really happy for you Sophie. And I will apologize to Nate tomorrow."

"It's okay. We were just worried. We're a family now and every member counts."

"I will make sure that nothing is going to happen to you, you know that right?" he looked deeply into her eyes.

"I know you will. Just don't get hurt or killed in the process" she warned.

He smirked. "You know I can't promise that"

She glared knowing that she couldn't say nothing else on the matter. She got up. "Well, I'd better go and see what Nate is up to. I will see you in the morning."

"See you"

"Nate?" she called out when she entered the apartment.

"Upstairs!" he shouted back.

Sophie went upstairs and into the bedroom. "Hey?"

Nate was lying on his bed quietly reading a book. It was rare for them to have a day off and although he was a control freak workaholic, he liked relaxing now and then.

"So," he closed the book. "Please don't tell me that Eliot is secretly in love with you."

She chuckled crawling her away up the bed. "No, you idiot. He was just being the overprotective Eliot, but everything is okay now" she settled in his arms.

"Sure? Because I could go down and punch him, but I don't think I will come back alive." He muttered in her hair.

"Well, I wish you wouldn't. You promised to be at my service this evening so I kind of need you" she smiled lifting her head from his chest.

"And what exactly do I need to do for you?" he asked a bit uncertain.

"Oh, you know. Cook me a nice dinner, prepare me a hot relaxing bath, maybe a massage..."

"That's all" he replied sarcastically.

She nibbled his bottom lip. "I'm sure I can think of something else"

He rolled her on to her back. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking, I'm sure I could work on that" He leaned down to kiss her.


	4. Chapter 4

"I can't believe it that you can't remember when I stole that necklace. It was in Venice? The gondola chase? I was wearing that beautiful Carnival mask…" Sophie had a dreaming look thinking about that night. She really loved Venice during its Carnival.

"I can certainly remember that beautiful green dress you wore" Nate smirked from across the bar counter.

"Men, you're all the same!" She sighed in frustration. "Anything else besides my cleavage?"

"Why concentrate on other details? I have to start keeping a notebook where I can write all these special dates, haven't I?" he wondered.

"If you don't want to get accustomed to sleeping on the couch!" she finished drinking her orange juice. "Let's get out of here." She gave him a flirtatious smile.

"Really?" Nate asked surprised. "I'm starting to like your mood swings!" he finished off his drink in one go. Suddenly the bar door opened. "We're closed" Nate saw the armed man and he immediately put himself in front of Sophie. A second guy appeared at the back . He soon realized who was behind this. "Hello Sterling!"

The old friend/enemy came into view. "Hello, Nate." he looked at the woman behind the mastermind. "Sophie."

"Sterling" she said firmly "What are you doing here?" she still resented him for arresting Nate.

The second man opened a briefcase and took a chess board out. " How about a game, Nate?"

Nate observed him intensely and then turned towards Sophie. "Wait for me upstairs, okay?" he told her softly.

She started to object. "Nate, I don't trust him."

"I'll be fine." He smiled reassuringly. "Call the others" he mouthed.

She gave him a small nod and looked him deeply in his eyes. She knew that she had to go. She had another life to looked after, but that didn't make it better.

She started walking away , but she first stopped in front of Sterling "If he's not upstairs in an hour, I'll send Eliot to kick your ass" she threatened.

Sterling gulped felling scared of the grifter in that moment, Nate just smirked, proud of his woman.

The chess board was set up and the two players took their seats.

"You two finally hooked up. About time" Sterling said first.

"I don't think you're here to talk about my private life." Nate retorted back. Nate took one of Sterling's pawn.

"And I see congratulations are in order too." Sterling moved another piece capturing one of Nate's pawn .

"How do you know?" Nate looked up a bit angry that Sterling discovered their secret and now he had a leverage over him.

"I saw how you stood in front of her and Sophie put a hand on her womb. How far along is she?"

Nate looked unsure, but since for now they were having a peaceful conversation he answered back. "Two months."

"That's good, Nate. After everything that happened to you, you deserve to be happy again." He responded truthfully.

"If you use Sophie or my child in any way…" Nate added menacingly.

"Relax Nate. I'm not here for you and I won't put them in danger. I actually need a favour."

"Why should I help you?"

"Because you will see it's the right thing to do" he smirked "Plus I'll own you one. How often does that happen?"

Nate nodded. "Start talking"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I was seconds away from coming down and punch the guy!" Eliot exclaimed the moment Nate stepped in his apartment. "Please, tell he's still here!" he punched the palm of his left hand with his other hand.

"He's gone, but we'll be meeting him tomorrow. At the airport" He threw Hardison a file. "Please, verify its contents. I don't trust Sterling"

"Nate," Sophie said alarmed. "Please, don't tell me we're doing a job for Sterling!"

"We're doing a job for Sterling" he replied back.

"Seriously?" Eliot shouted back. "Why? Every time the guy is in town there's trouble"

Hardison read through the finally. "Seriously? This is big, man."

"What?" Parker picked over his shoulder.

"We have to steal a tiny little weight that calibrates a nuclear centrifuge"

"Nuclear? Cool!" Parker exclaimed happily.

"Why?" Eliot retorted back.

"Before the bad man sells it to terrorists." Nate responded. "Look guys, I know it's Sterling and we can't trust him. I will try to stay a step ahead of him, but it's something we have to do."

The others silently agreed. "Okay, we will meet again tomorrow morning when I'll have a plan. The flight for Dubai leaves in the early evening."

The other three left the apartment while Sophie was sitting at the conference table still looking perplexed .

"What?" Nate stepped closer to her.

"There's something else, isn't there?" she asked having by now learned how to read him and knowing when his hiding something.

Nate smirked. "I can't keep anything from you, can I?" he sighed. "Sterling has an informant inside close to Livingston. While we distract him with the theft, Sterling will liberate the informant."

"Who is it?"

"Sterling's daughter."

Sophie looked at with wide eyes. "Sterling has a daughter?"

"Yeah, I was shocked too. I never knew about her. But his ex-wife married Livingston and since she died Sterling's daughter is practically living as a hostage."

"Poor girl"

"I don't want the others to know yet. Sterling only told me because I knew he was hiding something from me and I wouldn't have taken the job until he came clean."

Nate gather the files, papers and I-Pad and started working on plan, or several.

Sophie sighed. "If it weren't for Sterling, we could be having sex right now"

Nate chuckled. "Yeah…"

"I guess this is going to be a work night" she looked through the files.

"You can go upstairs to sleep. You need to rest."

"I'll help you until I can" she wrote something down.

Nate shook his head knowing how she could be stubborn most times. "Okay"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Eliot, would you please stop growling?" Hardison snapped from his seat.

"I just can't help it, man. Just the site of him makes my skin crawl…." He kept staring at the Sterling who was smirking at him.

"I would have preferred for you to stay in Boston" Nate whispered to Sophie.

"Nate," she puffed. "We've talked about it. Until I can I'm going to work on cons like normal. If you're going to be so overprotective now that I'm only two months pregnant what are you going to do in last trimester? Lock me in a vault?"

Nate raised his eyebrow. "Can it be an option?"

Sophie just glared at him and Nate sign in resignation. "Okay, I'll try to tone it down a bit. But you can't blame a man for trying."

Sophie smiled. "I like it that you took this role of being my personal bodyguard, but I can take care of myself. I have been doing it long before we've met"

"So you keep reminding me. I just want to keep both of you safe."

She wanted to kiss him but she knew he wasn't very comfortable in being so open and vulnerable in front of Sterling, so she just took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I know."

"We here." Sterling announced when the taxi stopped in front of their hotel.

Everyone got out and entered the luxurious hotel. Hardison whistle "We should let INTERPOLE pay for our jobs more often."

"Don't get used to it!" Sterling snarled going passed him. He went to the reception desk and took the key cards. "So we've got all the suit floor for us." He passed each of them a key card.

He gave one to Nate. "I thought that you and Miss Devereaux will be sharing." He commented smirking.

Nate snatched the key from his hand and followed the other to the lift. Hardison had been right, it was really a magnificent hotel. If the circumstances had been different, if would have been perfect for a romantic getaway.

"I've still got a house here in Dubai" Sophie commented as she had read his mind. "We could always come back another time"

Nate nodded even if he knew that would never happen. After this con it would probably be a while before they could return to the city. He might have to tell Sophie that she has to sell her house. "We have to get ready for the open ceremony" he opened his suitcase.

"After that long flight I need a shower" Sophie had already taken hold of the room. Her clothes were neatly placed in the wardrobe and she was carrying her beauty case into the bathroom.

Nate looked around wondering when it all happen and where he was going to put his things now. He sighed and stayed silent knowing not to start an argument.

"Want to join me?" Sophie peaked from the bathroom door frame.

Nate smirked. "That doesn't usually go fast. I'll go and find Hardison and ask him about our aliases."

"Spoil sport" she smirked back.

Nate discussed the details with his hacker and the told him that they were going to meet down the hall in an hour. He went back to his room, only to find Sophie going around the bedroom naked.

"Wow, I should leave more often." He whispered back eyeing her with lust.

"I'm just about to get dressed." She picked up a dress laying on the bed. "What do you think of this?" she asked.

"You know everything looks good on you" he stepped closer to her and kissed her bare shoulder from behind before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I don't think your opinion is really impartial." She smiled.

Nate then put a hand on her womb. "You can start noticing a slightly baby bump" he commented stroking the area.

"Hmm… so I've noticed in the shower." His touch felt good.

"You're going to have that test when we get back, aren't you?"

"Yes, a bit nervous about it. Not a big fan a big needles." She replied a bit scared.

"You know I'm going to be there for you, don't you?" he reassured her.

"I know." she smiled back and bend over to kiss me lightly.

"Better go and have my shower and to leave you to get dressed." He got up and went to the bathroom. After his quick shower he came out of the bathroom with only his boxer and saw Sophie trying a big hat in front of the mirror. "I thought hats were my thing" he exclaimed.

"It's hot outside, I don't really want to burn my head" she turned around already wearing the purple dress "Too much?"

Nate put his white trousers on and started buttoning his black shirt. "I don't know why you keep asking me fashion advice. I'm not that good at it."

"Hmm… but you do dress nicely." She ran a hand up and down his chest.

With the finally touch, Nate was ready. "Let's go!" he offered her his arm which she gratefully took it.

They used the party at Livingston building as an opportunity to do a recon. The vault seemed impenetrable, but Nate left the solution in Hardison's capable hands and he and Sophie retired in his room for a deserved rest. He needed to be at his best tomorrow.

"So," Sophie said. "You want to practice some chess with me?"

Nate smiled. "The last time you didn't exactly play fair."

"I don't know what you mean" she faked obliviousness.

"Half thorough the game you turned it to strip-chess!" he exclaimed.

"It's not my fault you're so easily distracted!"

"I'll show you easily distracted" and started planting soft kisses along her cheek and jaw.

Sophie moaned. "I don't think we should be having sex tonight"

Nate looked up. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, aren't you supposed to be like a big athlete before he's big game? There is a reason why footballers' wives and girlfriends must stay away before a football match"

"You really believe that?" he questioned.

"It must be true somehow. So the only thing you'll be having from tonight, Nathan Ford, it's a game of chess. If not, we can go to sleep."

Nate sighed in frustration. "You really enjoy teasing me, don't you?"

"It has become one of my favourite pastimes, yes!" she smirked.

"I'll remember this and then I won't be so gentle." He warned not really implying he was going to hurt her. Never that. But doing a bit of teasing himself, maybe

"Bring it on!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Nate, calm down please" Sophie tried to stop her partner.

"He got you arrested!" Nate retorted back angrily.

"and he drugged me!" Eliot shouted too.

The rented van stopped in the hangar next to a private jet. Nate soon got out of it.

"Sterling!" he shouted watching the man boarding the plane.

The agent turned around and saw Nate running towards him. "I know you're pissed!" he put his hands up in surrender.

Nate was ready to punch him. "Not in front of my daughter, please" Nate stopped when he saw the young girl watching frightened from the airplane window.

Nate sighed and put his arm down. "You got my girlfriend arrested. I told you not to mess with them"

"I just did what had to be done. Tell you what, I'll make it up to you"

"How?"

"I can offer you a ride to Boston" he nodded towards the jet.

Nate considered the offer and then nodded making a sign to the others to gather their things and board the plane. Soon they were flying to the U.S.. Half way through the flight Olivia approached Nate. The mastermind looked up from the book he was reading.

"Can I help you?" he inquired.

"I wanted to ask you if you would like to play another game of chess. This time a fair game."

Nate considered the suggestion. She seemed like a nice girl, it was not her fault that her flaw was to have Sterling as her father.

"Sure" he finally agreed. He turned towards Sophie who was leaning against his shoulder, her too reading a book. "Will you be okay by yourself?"

"Jeez, I wonder if I can manage to stay here alone in my seat in a plane with you and other 6 other people?"

"You know, I could do without the sarcasm!"

"Just go" she pushed him out of his seat. "Have fun!" she waved.

The first game finished with a draw. They were both excellent players. The second game was won by Olivia, to her father's joy that smirked at Nate. The mastermind won the last game. Soon they were landing in Boston.

The team got off the plane. Eliot wasn't still very happy that Sterling drugged him and he so wanted to punch him, but he promised not to.

"I will send the information you need as soon as I can" Sterling promised.

Nate just nodded and helped Sophie off the steps.

"Mr. Ford" Olivia called him. "I hope we'll be able to play again." She smiled.

"Hmm… sure" Nate responded a bit surprised.

Sophie just giggled behind her hand and Sterling groaned recognizing the smitten look on his daughter face.

"How cute!" Sophie exclaimed once they were far away.

"What?"

"Olivia has got a crush on you. I think that's enough of a punishment for Sterling!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Elisabeth, why did you ask us to come here urgently?" Sophie asked apprehensively "Did something show up in the amnio test?"

Nate and Sophie came for the test ten days ago and then they patiently waited for the results. It had been a long wait. Both of them were nervous and the rest of the team wondered why Nate and Sophie kept snapping at everyone, even their poor client of the week. Finally they explained what could the amnio test show and what kind of complications the baby could have. The three younger members understood, and like a real family they gave them support. When the phone called arrived, they got a bit worried when the doctor told them to come as soon as they could to the studio.

"First of all relax. The test didn't show any genetic complication or defects."

Sophie visibly relaxed. "Thank God" she smiled and tighten her hold on Nathan's hand.

He was more relax too but he knew the doctor had some other information. "It showed something, though"

"Yes, that's why I wanted to do another ultrasound."

"Elisabeth! Would you stop being so enigmatic!" Sophie playfully snapped.

The doctor just chuckled. "Just get change and I will show you. Just don't worry, everything is fine"

Soon Sophie found herself lying again on the medical examiner table with the gel on her womb and the doctor passing the probe over it.

"Okay, this is the fetus we saw the last time. It's growing nicely. Full ten weeks now." She moved the probe "And here is its companion that was hiding the last time" she smiled.

"Wait? What?" Nate asked shocked. "Companion? As in two of them?"

"Yep, the HGC levels were a bit high but I didn't think much about it, but then the amnio showed two distinctive DNA patterns. They are fraternal but not identical."

Sophie was still in shock. "How is this possible? I was taking birth control pills! Okay one baby, but two?"

"It can happen."

"Nate, I'm so going to kill you!" she turned towards the man.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" he tried to defend himself.

"Of course it is!" she shouted back "You and your super sperm. Now I have to give birth not to one but two babies!"

"Sophie, relax please" Nate tried to calm her down.

"Now we'll need two of everything. Then double shifts, double changing diapers, double breast feeding…" she started rambling panicking.

Nate grabbed her hands and made her look into his eyes. "Sophie, relax"

She took a big breath and finally started thinking more clearly. "How come you're so calm?"

He shrugged "One baby, two babies. I don't think it makes much of a difference now."

Doctor Elisabeth Stone watched their interaction amused. "Would you like to know the sex of the babies?"

Sophie and Nate exchanged glances.

"What do you think?" Sophie asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You know I'm a control freak. I'd prefer knowing now so we can get everything prepared, but if you want to keep it a surprise…"

"Nah, I would like to know too. It will make the shopping easier." She smirked.

"Of course it will" Nate teased her. They both turned towards the doctor. "So?"

Elisabeth created a bit of suspense but then said. "One of each: a girl and a boy!"

"Really?" now that the shocked had passed, Sophie was actually beaming for the news.

"See, you couldn't decide if you'd have preferred to have a boy or a girl, so I gave you one of each. What more do you want?" Nate smirked.

Sophie glared at him. "You're not off the hook yet!"

"Well, now that this is out of the way, you can schedule your next appointment in six weeks. A pregnancy with twins it's slightly different. You'll have to be more careful. I will leave you so leaflets to read. If you need anything or you think something is wrong, you call me immediately, okay?"

Sophie nodded and after she got changed, they said their goodbyes to the doctor and left the studio.

"So, who is going to tell the others?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Twins?" Hardison shouted after spitting his orange soda on the kitchen counter. "Is this a sick joke?"

"Nope, I've got two babies in here" Sophie patted her stomach. "You can all blame Nate, that's what I'm doing" she pointed at the mastermind who kept at the back hiding from the others.

"I think it's cool" Parker exclaimed. "Two is better than one. It's like diamonds, the more the better"

Eliot shook his head. "There's something wrong with you." He turned towards the couple. "Well double congratulations, then!" he smiled and hugged the grifter.

"Yeah," Hardison went to give her a hug too. "Just, no more than two. If another comes out, send it back."

She smirked. "I hope that was the only surprise"

"So," the hacker asked "are they two mini grifters or two mini masterminds?"

"You mean mini thieves!" Parker intervened.

"They are actually their babies so it's griters and masterminds. But I'm already saying, I'll teach these two how to fight. Everyone should be able to defend themselves."

"Pff… hitting is so boring. I mean can you imagine how fun it will be to teach them how to rappel, crawl inside vent shafts or jump down a lift?"

Sophie and Nate shared a panicked look. Note to themselves: no leaving the babies alone with Parker for a very long time!

"Well?" the hitter urged them.

Sophie smirked wanting to tease the three a bit longer. "It's a girl and a boy" she finally told them.

"Yes, I won!" Hardison throw his fist in the air.

"Technically nobody won, since there's one of each" Eliot retorted back. " The bet is off!"

"Did you guys bet on the sex of the baby?" Nate asked shocked.

"Of course, 50-50 chance." Eliot shrugged. "If there had been something wrong with the baby, of course all bets were off."

"We also bet on the date of birth" Parker added.

"But we need to have more people participating. For now there's us three, Cora and Sterling"

"Wait? Sterling?" Nate shouted back.

"Yep," the hacker nodded. "Took his money right away, I didn't really trust him. We're still waiting for you to tell Tara. I'm sure she would like to be involved too"

"Tara is coming over next week" Sophie informed them.

"She is?" Nate fell out of the sky.

"I've called her yesterday. Asked her to come for a girl's night out, so I can ask her about helping us out when I won't be able to be in the cons."

Nate nodded. "Wait? What do you mean by girl's night out?" he asked concerned.

"Oh, shush Nate" she patted his cheek playfully.

"As in clubbing? A quite meal in the restaurant? Please, don't tell me strip clubs!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey there girl" Tara barged in once Sophie opened the front door of Nate's apartment.

"Tara" Sophie hugged her. "It's been too long"

"I can see that…" Tara eyed Sophie's clothing. "What is that thing you're wearing?" she looked horrified. "A men's sweatshirt?".

Sophie had, like always, stolen Nate's blue hoodie that was now one her favourite things to wear when she was relaxing at home. She looked down. "What? It's comfortable!"

"We don't do comfortable, we do fashionable." She shook her head. "God, being in a permanent relationship has changed you. We need to go shopping then this evening we're going to drink and flirt with men!"

"I think I'll have to leave the drinking and the flirting to you" Sophie said sitting heavily on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Did Nate tell you you couldn't go out?" Tara couldn't understand why the two girls couldn't have fun like the old times.

"I don't need Nate's permission" Sophie snorted "It's just that…"

"Hey, the bathroom is free now." Nate came rushing down the stairs. He then noticed the blond. "Hi there, Tara!"

"Nate," she eyed him. "That's a serious look for you"

Nate was wearing a suit and a shirt with a tie.

"Yes, it is" Sophie eyed him too with suspicion. "Am I still not allowed to know where you're going?"

Nate rolled his eyes. "Sophie, it's not a secret" he got his keys from the table. "If you really must know I'm meeting Cora at the bank. They are giving her problems with some payments and I'm going to help her out"

"That's all?"

"And then I'm meeting my secret mistress." He told her sarcastically. "Yes, that's all."

"Okay, I probably won't be here for lunch. Tara and I are going shopping…"

"Of course you are!" he mumbled.

"…and" she continued ignoring him "we'll be staying out until mid-afternoon."

"Will I see you before you go for your girls' night out?" he added quotes with his hands on the last part.

"Yes" it was now her time to roll her eyes.

"Just, please don't buy too much. I don't think you can put anything else in that closet."

"Yes, yes… there's always the closet at my apartment."

"Okay, I'm off! Talk to you later Tara" he was nearly out of the door when the brunette grifter stopped him.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" she called him back.

Sighing, Nate retraced his steps and then leaned over to give her small peck on the lips. It was something that Sophie had insisted that they do as a couple. Every time one of them left for somewhere, they should give each other a good-bye kiss. "I'll see you late" he whispered on her lips and finally left.

Tara observed the scene open-mouthed. "Okay, you need an intervention. That scene was way too domestic. What happened to no-strings-attached Sophie?"

Sophie shrugged. "Things change, Tara. People change. I like having a stable relationship. I feel secure with Nate." She paused. "and, there's something else you should know" she slowly lifted her shirt.

"Is that…" Tara stared shocked. "Are you… are you pregnant?"

"Yep," Sophie smiled. "With twins"

"Seriously?" the other grifter was still stunned.

"Seriously"

"I can't believe it. They are Nate's, right?" she raised her eyebrow.

"Of course they are Nate's" she exclaimed.

"Wow, you and Nathan Ford having twins on the way" she puffed. "never would have thought of that"

"Believe me, ten years ago I would have called anyone insane if they told me this" she gestured her womb. " would happen. But it did and we're both happy about it. So is the team"

"Well, if you are happy then I'm happy for you too." She hugged her friend. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you" she had teary eyes.

"So I guess I'll be definitely be doing all the flirting this evening" she laughed.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"This place is boring!" Parker commented twirling some ice inside her cocktail glass.

"You didn't have to come with us" Sophie replied back. Actually, she wasn't having much fun either.

"It's not like I had choice, Nate…" then she promptly closed her mouth realizing she said something she wasn't supposed to.

"Nate, what?" Sophie raised her eyebrow angrily.

"Nothing!"

"Parker!"

The thief sighed. "He asked me to keep an eye on you"

"Oh, that man. Seriously, he needs to stop micro managing everything!" Sophie grumbled.

"Have fun with that!" Tara snorted laughing. "You've got involved with him!"

"Thank you for agreeing to help us out when the pregnancy is further along" Sophie changed the subject.

"Hey, no problem, always ready to help. Plus, you do pay well and your cons are quiet exciting"

Parker mobile beep again that night.

"Is that Hardison texting you again?" Sophie asked. "What are the boys doing?" she hoped that Nate was actually socializing and not just sulking around waiting for her.

"Oh man, I can't believe it they went without me!" Parker whined.

"Where are they?"

"In Atlantic City!"

"What are they doing in Atlantic City?" Sophie asked surprised.

"Apparently Nate is winning a lot of money in the casinos"

Sophie eyes brighten up. "Oh good, more shopping!"

"I don't think so, he always gives his winnings to charity" Parker shrugged.

A big smile appeared on Sophie face. He might be a bit controlling, cold and distant but he had a big heart. That's one of the many reason she loved him.

"Ops, I think my friend Peggy is in trouble." Parker exclaimed reading her new text.

"What makes you say that?" Tara was eyeing a handsome man that passed by.

"Does this seem to you a cat lover you could meet on-line?" she showed them the picture.

"Yummy" Tara exclaimed

"I think your friend is in big trouble. Let's go, girls. This place is boring anyway." Sophie collect her bag on stormed off.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I can't believe it you have been so irresponsible!" Nate yelled. His shouts could be heard even from outside the apartment.

"Nate, calm down, please. You'll give yourself an heart attack" Sophie casually sat at the kitchen table watching Nate pacing up and down the room.

"How can I stay calm when just an hour ago you were standing next to an exploding bomb?" He shouted back running his hands through his hair in frustration.

"Hey, I'm here. Everything went fine. Tara and I knew what we were doing."

"Did you know what you were doing even when those two men attacked you and one of them had a gun pointed at you?" he replied back.

"I'm going to kill Parker" she mumbled.

"Anything could have gone wrong this evening. You haven't got only yourself to think about now, you've got two babies in you too" he was really mad that she took unnecessarily risks putting the babies in harm's way.

"Were you worried only for the babies or for me too?" she couldn't help to ask.

"What does that supposed to mean?" he replied surprised by her question.

"Well, until now you only mentioned the babies being in danger, what about me?" Her voice raised too.

"I… what?" he hesitated.

"Let's face the truth Nate" she finally told him angrily. "If it hadn't been for me ending up pregnant, our relationship wouldn't have been progressing so quickly. You made it clear that you didn't want to be in a relationship" She paused. "So I'm asking you, do you even care about me or am I only the woman carrying your children?" She was about to cry but she didn't want to be seen weak by Nate.

Nate shook his head stunned. "I can't believe it that you're asking me this. And what do you mean by ending up pregnant? Do you regret the babies?"

Sophie's slight hesitation was all he needed. "You know what?" He threw his hands in the air. "I'll just leave before one of us says anything else that we're going to regret later."

"Nate, don't go!" now her eyes were filled with tears. But the man just stormed off slamming the door behind him. Sophie watched the door and then started sobbing.


	7. Chapter 7

The morning after, Sophie was curled up on the couch. On her face you could still see traces of her crying and her eyes were puffy from the lack of sleep. She heard the door open.

"Nate?" she sat up hoping the man had come back, but it was just the team. Disappointed she laid back down.

The team was hesitant to enter after they saw Sophie's state.

"Hey sweetie," Tara sat on the edge of the couch. "What's wrong?"

"Nate and I had a big fight last night" she whispered.

Eliot grunted. "I'm going …" he punched his hand.

"No, Eliot. It was mostly my fault. I mean, he had every right to be angry. What I did last night was just stupid and dangerous. Two other defenseless people are depending on me, I can't act so recklessly. Now, I'm just worried. He left hours ago and he's still not back."

"Maybe he is just passed out in some bar" Parker shrugged.

Eliot shook his head. "I don't think so. Since he found out about the babies, I saw him drinking less."

"But if they had a fight, maybe he just needed to get drunk" Hardison pointed out.

Sophie had noticed that Nate had been drinking less too. She couldn't help having the feeling that something was wrong. "Alec, could just check the hospitals or police reports, please? I…. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling."

Hardison started working immediately. Sophie rarely used his given name, it means that she was really worried sick.

Tara ran a hand up and down the grifter's back. "It's going to be okay." She reassured her.

"Guys," Hardison had finally found something, but from the look in his eyes the could see it was nothing good.

"Just say it, Hardison." Sophie took a big breath.

"A Nathan Ford was recovered last night in the hospital. He had a heart attack"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

They all rushed in the hospital, but Sophie was the first one to arrive at the reception station.

"I'm here looking for Nathan Ford."

A blond nurse looked up and checked on her computer. "A mister Nathan Ford was brought in last night, but we had no one listed as next of kin. You are…?"

"I'm his girlfriend"

"Look, if you are not family…"

"Look at me!" Sophie pointed out at her baby bump. "You think I'm not family?" she shouted. "I want to know where my babies' father is!"

Scared of the hormonal woman the nurse whispered. "He is in ICU on the fourth floor."

"Thank you!"

They all went past her and Parker glared at her. She was going to steal something from her for wasting precious time.

The lift finally stopped at the fourth floor and they went towards the rooms.

"You're Nathan Ford's family?" a nurse stopped them. She had been informed by the front desk.

Sophie nodded "Where is he? May I see him?"

"He is in ICU now. You can only see him through a glass. The doctor will come and talk to you as soon as possible." She looked at the bunch of people. "I'm afraid only one at the time can come with me"

"Sophie go," Eliot said. "We will wait here"

As soon as Sophie left with the nurse, Eliot turned to the hacker "Hardison, let me see his medical file" He wanted to be prepared.

Sophie and Karen, that was the nurse's name, stopped in front of a big glass. Nate was laying on a bed. He looked pale and his grey skin was a big contrast against the white sheet that covered his lower body. All sorts of tubes and wires were attached to his chest.

"He needs an oxygen mask?" Sophie asked panicked.

"His body isn't producing enough oxygen at the moment, it's only temporally"

A middle aged doctor approached them.

"Mrs. Ford?" he asked.

"Hmm… no. I'm his girlfriend." She didn't knew what to say. Why didn't they come prepared?

"Oh, sorry. We didn't really know who to call as no one was listed as next of kin."

"I guess we've never thought about it. How is he Doctor…?"

"Kendall. I'm Doctor Mark Kendall. Mister Ford has suffered a myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack. When a blood clot develops in a blood vessel it can stop the blood supply in the heart"

Sophie looked at him in confusion.

"Blood stop flowing into his heart. Luckily there were people on the street when he had his heart attack and helped him immediately. We have stopped the heart attack and we are supplying him oxygen, but he is attached to a pump. His coronary artery was damaged and he needs surgery. We will do an angioplasty to push the clot away"

"Surgery? Will he be okay?"

"He is strong. His vitals are not so bad. We have the surgery schedule in a couple of hours. It won't take long. He hasn't gained consciousness since he was brought in, but that just means his body needs resting."

"May I see him?" she pleaded.

"Sure, the nurse will show you were the scrubs are. Not for too long, though. Fifteen minutes, no longer"

"Thank you" she smiled slightly.

After she had put the scrubs and surgical mask on, Sophie went inside ICU and she slowly went near Nate's bed.

"Oh Nate," she ran her hand through his messy hair. She couldn't stop blaming herself. Had their fight caused his heart attack? "I'm so sorry. You were right, I should have been more careful last night. It's just that sometimes it's so easy to forget… I never had to take care of anyone before. I had always been alone and suddenly have these two tiny little creatures depending on me, it's …. It's just so scary. You always seem so confident. I mean, you have already been through this… but for me it's still new. But I want to get better at it. I will get better. " She leaned over and whispers in his ear. "I love you Nate, I love you so much"

Nate began to stir from his sleep. "Soph…?" he whispered in the mask.

Sophie looked up. "Nate?" she ran her hand down his face.

"Where…" his voice was groggy.

"Shh… don't try to speak, it's going to be okay. You are in the hospital. You had a heart attack"

"What…" he tried to talk, but the mask was making his speech difficult and he was so tired.

"They are going to take you into surgery soon to repair the damage." Her eyes started to tear up, but she had to stay strong for him. "It's going to be okay, Nate. I'm going to be here as soon as you wake up" She saw he couldn't keep his eyes opened. "Go to sleep"

"… Love you" he had time to whisper right before he lost consciousness again.

Sophie could now cry freely.

"Miss," the nurse called her. "it's time to go now"

She slowly nodded and she made her way back to the others. They saw her crying and started panicking.

"Sophie, how's Nate?" Parker asked worried. "He's not…" she could say the word.

"He's going be fine, Parker." She tried to reassure the thief and maybe herself too. "He's going to need surgery. They will take him away in a couple of hours"

"An angioplasty" Eliot confirmed. Sophie looked at him in question. "I read his file. Sophie, don't worry about it. Nate is strong and the damage is minimal" The others still looked at him curiously. "What? I dated a thoracic surgeon. He will make it"

Sophie sat down defeated. "I just can't stop thinking that if we hadn't fought last night…"

"Sophie," Eliot kneeled in front of her. "It's not your fault. This was going to happen anyway. The stress may have been the trigger, but it could have happen a month or maybe even a week from now. I saw his tests, His blood results were a mess and with all his alcohol problems. He may have drinking been less now, but he's started too late and all the stress from the cons. His heart was ticking bomb that was about to explode."

"But if we hadn't fought… How ironic?" she sadly chuckled. "I even told him that if he didn't calm down, he was going to have a heart attack." Tears started flowing again.

"Sophie" Tara shouted sitting next to her. "Stop blaming yourself. This is not the Sophie Devereaux I know. You heard Eliot, it was about to happen anyway, your fight had nothing to do with it, it's time to move on."

"Tara is right. All this pointless guilt is going to harm the babies." Eliot added. "After the surgery Nate is going to need time to recover, and you know Nate, he is not going to rest. Especially with Latimer still out there."

"Oh, he will rest. I'll make sure of that" Her hand wait to her abdomen. She would use the babies card, if she had to.

"We all will" Hardison agreed.

"We need to start making plans. We all have to put a strong front." Eliot looked at the others. They were all thinking the same thing. They needed to protect Sophie and Nate. Sophie from all the stress of looking after Nate, and the mastermind from Latimer. It was time to act and stop waiting for the businessman's move.

Four hours later the team was still seated waiting for news. When they took Nate to surgery, they only saw a glimpse of him before he was wheeled away. Hardison and Eliot were working on a plan against Latimer. Since their rival knew their faces, they couldn't directly access the building. But they had a jolly card: Tara. The grifter was going to go in the building and plant bugs for Hardison. Parker was studying the building's schematics the hacker had manage to download, but they were hoping it wasn't going to be necessary for her to infiltrate the building.

Sophie decided to call Maggie. She was after all his ex-wife and the two women had bonded over the phone when Nate had been in prison.

"Sophie?" the woman had recognized the number "Is everything okay?"

"Maggie, I need to tell you something" she paused.

"Did Nate do something stupid again?" she asked her voice amused.

"He had a heart attack" she finally said.

"Oh my God," she began panicking. "Is he okay? I mean, of course he's not okay…"

"He in surgery right now. Sorry if I waited to call you, but he was out in the streets when it happened and we only found out this morning… he's going to be fine, Maggie. You know Nate, this won't stop him"

"I know… I know… It's just that…" She didn't have to say it. Nate was the same, hospitals didn't bring good memories.

"I'll call you as soon as I have news" Sophie promised her.

"Do you need me to come over? I can book a seat on the first flight. I know Nate isn't the easy person to deal with when he's sick. You might need all the support you can get."

"Maggie, you don't need to make excuses, I know you still care for him, it's okay. We'll be happy to have you here."

"Okay, I'll come as soon as I can."

"You just get ready and go to the airport, I'll have Hardison call you with the details."

"Right, it's a lot easier if you know a hacker" she chuckled.

"Yeah, I'll see you soon"

"See you later and Sophie?" she paused. "Thank you for calling"

They were starting to get restless when the doctor came to talk to them.


	8. Chapter 8

"The surgery went well" he told them smiling.

They all breath in relief. "When can I see him?" Sophie immediately asked him. "I promised him I was going to be there went he woke up"

"He still needs to stay in ICU for a couple of hours, then he will be moved into a private room, just time for him to wake off from the anesthesia. He can then receive visitors, but please no all at once. I'll then discuss with you the protocol to follow during his recovery time."

"Thank you, Doctor"

Doctor Kendall nodded and walked away.

"Two hours" Hardison whispered to Eliot. "That's enough time to do what we have to do"

Eliot looked at him and then Sophie with the corner of his eye. He slowly nodded. Then he made a signal to Tara who quickly caught its meaning.

"Parker," Tara called the thief. "You stay here with Sophie. Eliot and I are going to get some food."

Sophie looked up. "I'm not that hungry."

"Sophie, you need to eat" Eliot pointed out.

She sighed giving up. "Okay, but nothing to heavy"

"I'll come with you" Hardison jumped from his seat. "Three sets of hands are better than two"

The three of them left quickly and if Sophie hadn't been so worried about Nate, she would have caught that they were up to something.

Hardison parked the van two block from Latimer's building. He didn't want to risk to park closer.

"Okay, this is your cover" He handed Tara her fake ID and documents.

The blond grifter was putting the final touches to her persona. "It's a straight go in and get out job, right?"

"He doesn't know you, so you shouldn't have problems." Eliot confirmed to her.

"I will guide you through coms"

"If you see any sign of trouble, you get out of there, fast" Eliot looked at her straight in the eyes making sure she understood.

"Okay" she nodded. "I'm off"

Hardison sat behind the computer.

"What I'm supposed to do?" Eliot asked.

"Maybe you should actually go and get some for food. It would be suspicious if you go back empty handed."

Eliot grunted in annoyance but jump outside the van.

"I would like a double cheese burger with extra cheese and no pickles. Oh, and a maxi portion of fries and orange soda" he smirked.

"I swear, Hardison, one of these days…"

"Thank you bro. I appreciate it!"

The con went smoothly. Latimer's personal assistant directed her towards the office and in the less than a minute she had been left alone she planted the bugs Hardison had given her in the strategic places they figured out Latimer wouldn't be able to find them. They knew that Latimer was a ladies man, so it had been easy for Tara to distract him so he wouldn't notice her false pretenses. After twenty minutes, she was out of the building and safe in the van.

"Did it work?" she asked out of breath. Being inside the lion's den always made her uncomfortable.

"Perfectly, baby. I can hear everything that goes on in that office. By the way, nice touch with the mobile phone"

She smirked. "Please, show a man some cleavage and he won't know what's happening around him."

"All done?" Eliot entered the van, his hands full of carrier bags.

"Did you doubt me?" Tara grinned.

Eliot just smiled. "Let's go before Sophie gets suspicious"

In the hospital was waiting patiently for Nate to be transferred in a room. She hated that she wasn't allowed in ICU, she had got just a quick look at him through the glass, and that just because she used her grifting skills on the nurse. Parker was occupied by stealing all sorts of odd things and replacing them in various parts of the floor.

She heard the lift's bell ring and hope to see the others back. They had been gone for a long time. It wasn't them, but she was happy to see Maggie rushing towards her.

Sophie got up from the chair and gave her an awkward hug. "Hi, Maggie"

"Hey," she stepped back. "Any news?"

"The surgery went well."

"Oh, thank God!" she sighed relieved. She looked around "Where are the others?"

"Hey Maggie" Parker jumped in front of her.

"Hi, Parker. I see you're always the same" she smiled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she looked confused. "Who else am I supposed to be?"

"I mean you haven't changed" Maggie forgot that having a conversation with Parker could be very challenging.

"The others actually told I have change a lot. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing"

Maggie studied Sophie an arched her eyebrow. "There's something different with you"

Sophie looked down embarrassed. Of course the woman was going to figure it out. Damn that man for not telling his ex-wife sooner.

"It's like you're glowing" she continue. Then realization hit her. Oh my God! Your pregnant!" she exclaimed.

"Nate was supposed to tell you" she tried to defend herself.

"Wow, I mean…" Maggie was shocked. Finding out that your ex-husband was having a kid with another woman was certainly not what she had been expecting.

"I know it's awkward, I'm sorry if…"

"No, no don't be" Maggie tried to reassure her. "I mean it's a good thing. Expecting a kid is always a good thing.

"Puff" Parker snorted. "a kid? Try two!"

"Two?" second shock of the day.

"Thanks Parker!" Sophie snorted back. She turned to Maggie. "Yeah, two. A boy and a girl. There are fraternal but not identical."

"Wow" It seemed like that was the only word she could say.

"I'm still blaming Nate for it. These babies were certainly not planned. I mean that man…"

"Hmmm… Sophie. I'm still the ex-wife here. Please no details."

Sophie blushed. "Sorry"

"How far along are you?"

" A bit over three months. It's the strangest experienced I have had. One moment I'm happy, then the other one I'm ready to hit someone, mostly Nate. It's like I'm in a different body"

"It's actually scary" Parker commented.

Maggie laughed. "It's only the beginning, it gets worse. When until the cravings start kicking in. I remember poor Nate had to go out in the middle of night for ice-creams, hamburger, tacos… it was driving him crazy." She had a nostalgic look, remembering about Sam. "But there are good memories too. The first time you feel them moving or the first kick" Tears started forming in her eyes.

Sophie covered her hands with hers. "Hey,"

"Sorry" she quickly dries her tears.

Tara, Eliot and Hardison exit from the lift. "Hey, I see the all gang is here" Tara greeted Maggie.

"Hi everyone"

Eliot started distributing the food. He passed a sandwich to Maggie.

"How did you know I was going to be here?" she asked.

He just shrugged. "I just did"

As soon as they finished to eat, the nurse came to them. "We've moved Mister Ford to his room" She informed them. "He should be waking up soon, if you want to go inside." She looked at Sophie.

Sophie got up and followed her to the room. Nate was laying on the bed. He was still attached to monitors and tubes, but at least the oxygen mask was gone. Like before, she took his hand in hers and started running her other hand through his hair.

Nate began to stir from his sleep. He tried to sit up, but his all chest hurt. He moaned.

"Hey there, sleepy head. Welcome back" she smiled at him.

His throat was dry and pointed at the glass sitting on the bedside table.

"Let me help you" she slid an ice chip across his lips and he gently sucked it in his mouth. The fresh water felt heavenly.

"Thanks" he whispered.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I have been run down by an elephant" he groaned hoarsely.

She laughed but then she started sobbing.

"Hey" he slowly lifted a hand to her cheek. "It's going to be okay"

"Don't you ever scare me like this again!" she cried. "I'm not going to raise these children on my own. If you die on me, I'm going to do anything to bring you back, understood?"

"Perfectly" he smiled. "Come here" and he brought her head down so he could gently kiss her lips.

Outside the room, the rest of team was waiting for Sophie to invite them in. They needed to know that their leader was going to be okay.

Hardison was listening through his tablet pc for anything interesting from the bugs they had planted. For now it had only been boring meetings.

"Hey guys, I've got something" he took his plugs out so everyone could hear.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why are you delaying our plans?" a mysterious man shouted on the phone.

"It's not my fault the man had a heart attack. He just had surgery this morning. What am I supposed to do?" Latimer shouted back.

The guys looked at each other. How did Latimer get this information? Eliot started looking around for anyone suspicious, but the coast was clear. He started wondering if Latimer had one of the nurses on his pay roll or if they hacked into the hospital computer.

"Which makes it a perfect opportunity! He isn't going to be a more vulnerable and easier target than now. You think that once he finds out what happened, he won't be rushing out of bed. Proceed as we have planned, now it's not the time to show mercy" he hung up.

"So, Latimer is just somebody else's pawn?" Tara thought out loud.

"Why does that voice sound so familiar?" Parker inquired.

"Because we have already met him" Eliot answered. His expression was hard.

"What do you mean?" Hardison looked up.

"That was Dubenich" Revenge was a powerful motive and Dubenich had more than three years to plan his. He was dangerous, his anger had blinded him and Nate was his only target.

"Dubenich? As the first guy we took down?" Hardison asked shocked. "But he is in prison, I've checked. He is still inside."

"Obviously that isn't stopping him"

"Guys, what are you all talking about?" Maggie asked confused.

The team filled Maggie with the latest events, from how they discovered someone had bugged their apartment, to how Latimer contacted Nate with his proposition and Nathan's refusal and how they have just found out that Dubenich, the first man they have conned, was behind everything only wanting revenge for what Nate has done to him.

"So, what do you have in mind?" she asked Eliot. She remembered that when Nate and her had been captured in Kiev, the hitter had worked out a fantastic plan to get them out.

"Nate and Sophie don't have to know about this" he stated firmly. "Sophie needs to think about the babies and Nate needs time to recuperate. This is all up to us, agree?"

They all nodded.

"Guys, you can come in now!" Sophie called behind them.

"I thought we couldn't go all in?" Parker questioned.

"Well, if you're quick, they might not notice!"

They all went in the room and were surprise of how fragile their leader looked. For them, Nate had always been strong, even when he was completely drunk or out of control. But now he seemed so weak. Or at least his body was, because his eyes still had that fire in them, which reassured them a little.

"Maggie, what are you doing here?" Nate was startled to see his ex-wife coming in.

She laughed. "It's good to see you too, Nate" she gave a quick and gentle hug. "You scared us all quite a bit. Especially when Sophie had to call me telling me that you had a heart attack."

"Sophie called you?" he eyed his girlfriend.

"Yes, I think I forgot to mention how Maggie and I became friends when you were in prison" she smiled at him mischievously.

"You and Maggie? Friends?" he looked shocked and scared at the same time.

"Huh, huh" she nodded still grinning.

"Oh, congratulations, by the way" Maggie followed Sophie's lead and started playing with him too.

"Congratulations?"

"On the babies" she confirmed. "It's going to be so wonderful, I can't wait for them to be born"

"You know about the babies?" Nate had the feeling that he was going to have another attack.

"Nate, relax! I'm okay with it. I knew about you and Sophie long ago. She told me as soon as it started"

"I'm not sure I'm okay with the two of you being friends" he eyed uncertainly.

"Well, there's nothing you can do about it now, love" Sophie mocked him.

Nate's eyes feel on the other three members of the team that had stayed at the back of the room. "Hey,"

Parker was the first to move. With a quick movement she got to Nate and hugged him hard and just as quickly she released him. "I'm glad you are not dead"

"Thank you, Parker. I'm glad I'm not dead too."

"How is it going, boss?" Hardison got closer to the bed too.

"I've been better, but it's a lot better than when I have to listen to your music " He tried to lighten the mood.

"I'm just trying to broaden your horizons"

Eliot just gave him a nodded and Nate nodded back.

"Things are going to change from now on." The hitter told him. "No more crappy food for you. And you will exercise more and try those relaxing techniques I've told you about. But more importantly, no more alcohol!"

Nate dropped his head backwards and groaned.

"You've all agreed to this, so don't even think about fighting us." Sophie said sternly "Like I said before, Nate. I'm not going to raise these kids on my own and I'm going to make sure that you're going to be there to see them grow."

Nate understood how important it was for her. "Okay, I promise I'll try to follow all the rules."

The door suddenly opened at Doctor Kendall walked in while was still reading a medical file. He quickly lifted his head up when he felt more people in the room

"What are you all doing here? I thought I said no more than two people at the time!"

"It's okay, Doctor" Nate said from his bed. "They can stay"

"Well, Mister Ford, it's good to finally see you awake." For now he ignore the broken rule and went closer to his patience's monitor. "It seems you're doing okay"

"When can I get out of here?" Nate asked eagerly.

"NATE!" Sophie chastised him giving him a small slap on his arm.

Doctor Kendall chuckled. "You've just got here and you want to leave us already" His tone got serious. "I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to be a long recovery. You have to stay in the hospital at least a week. Then three months of exercising, a strict diet, no work of a month and…" he looked at the room full of people and then his eyes stopped on Sophie. "… well, certain things are better left said in private" he complete embarrassed.

Sophie soon understood the cause of the doctor's hesitation and blushed.

"Okay, now the patience needs his rest so I don't want to see you here until tomorrow morning"

The all started seeing their good-byes to Nate and leave the room. The last one left was Sophie.

"Five minutes" the doctor told her before closing the door behind him.

Sophie leaned down and rested her forehead against Nate's. "You rest tonight, okay?" she whispered to him.

"You too" he closed his eyes and let out a big breath. "Sophie, I'm so sorry how about our fight. I…"

"Shh… it's okay." She palmed his face in her hands. "We were both wrong, but now nothing else matters, expect for you to get better."

"I love you. I should have told you this a long time ago. And it's not only because of the babies."

"I know" she smiled. "I love you too. And I'm happy about the babies. I let my insecurities about being a good mother make me do stupid things. You were right. I should be more careful from now on, because if something happened to them, I don't think I'll ever forgive myself."

"It's going to be okay. We've got everybody else watching our backs. They're not going to let anything happen to us and in six months we will have two beautiful babies in our arms."

There was a knock at the door.

"Okay, I must go now." She kissed him briefly on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow morning"

"You'll find me here"

Three hours into the night, Nate woke up startled by a mobile phone ringing. With sleepy eyes he looked around and saw that there was a mobile phone on the bed side table that he knew for certain wasn't there before.

"Hello?" he answered carefully.

"Well, hello mister Ford. How are feeling? I know that you had a bit of a rough day" he heard Latimer's laughing voice.

"What do you want?"

"Well, well… such much hostility. I was actually calling you as a favor."

"If it's about that job, I think I've already told you what you could do with it, but you wouldn't have risk sending one of your men in here just to hear it again."

He chuckled. "You're a funny man, mister Ford. Sadly, when you told me no, I had to send in the next man on the list to procure the item for me."

Nate soon understood who he meant. "I don't see how that's my problem"

"His entry plan was flawless, he got in the yesterday without a problem. But I haven't heard from him since then. Something is wrong"

Nate already knew that something wasn't right, but he wasn't going to give the satisfaction to Latimer. "He doesn't like the price, so he's going to sit on the item until you double it. It's what he does."

"Well, I know he didn't leave the building, so when it opens in two days, he'll be arrested and die in prison"

"Like I've said, not my problem" Nate hung up.

Nate was conflicted. He wanted to stay, he needed to stay, but he had no other choice. He had to go and save him. Slowly, he got up the bed and made his way towards the locker where his clothes and personal items had been stored. He wasn't very stable on the feet and his chest hurt like hell. He really didn't know how he was going to make it there. For a moment he considered calling the team or at least leave them a note, leave Sophie a note, but he had to do this alone. He wasn't going to put Sophie and his children in danger again. Making sure that the corridor was free, he made his way out of the hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

Sophie woke up with the smell of delicious pancakes invading her senses. She stirred from her sleep and slowly got up. She could hear the voices of her friends coming from downstairs. She subconsciously ran a hand up and down the empty place next to her. It had felt strange sleeping in that bed without Nate. She did still have her apartment, but now it felt so unfamiliar. She had left it for Tara and Maggie, so they didn't have to check in a hotel. This was now her home, with Nate.

After getting washed and dressed, she made her way downstairs. "Good morning, everyone"

Everybody else was already sitting at the table while Eliot was cooking.

"Hey, did you sleep well?" the hitter asked pouring her a glass of fresh orange juice. He was very looking after her during her pregnancy, making sure she was eating right.

"I tried, but I've missed Nate"

"Yuck," Hardison groaned. "To many details, mama"

She glared at him, but before she could make an appropriate reply, her phone rang.

"Hello?" a pause. "What do you mean he's gone? Where did he go? Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's not your fault. No, there's no need to call the police. We'll take care of it." She hung up.

"What's wrong?"

"Nate has left the hospital!" she told them angrily. Really? That man!

"He what?" Eliot shouted. Nate was in no condition to start wondering about. "Hardison, I thought your job was to make sure to check the bugs we've planted in Latimer's office" he pointed angrily at the hacker. They all knew who was behind the mastermind's disappearance.

"We've bugged his office, not his house!" Hardison shouted back. "Let me see what I can find!" he started typing furiously on his computer.

"Wait?" Sophie shook her head in confusion. "When did you guys bug Latimer's office?"

"Yesterday when we went to bring food"

"Yesterday?" Sophie shouted. "Are you crazy? What were you thinking? What if something had happened?"

"I was thinking that I had to protect my family." Eliot shouted back.

"If you two have finished shouting, I can tell you where Nate is" Hardison stopped them.

"Well?" asked Eliot irritated when Hardison was taking too long to say something.

"He's in Alexandria, Virginia at the United States patent office."

"Why is he there?"

"I don't know, but apparently Latimer sent him the schematics a week ago. He tried to clear his browser, that's adorable."

"Hardison, we can't waste any time. We need to go there. Fast!" Sophie was already out of the door.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took Nate all night to get to Virginia. It certainly hadn't been easy since his body was about to collapse at any moment. With the little cash he had in his pockets, he bought some medicine at a pharmacy, but it wasn't much. He had studied the schematics that Latimer had sent him, so he knew how he could get in, the problem was getting there and then get out, of course after he had convinced his father to follow him. Sweat was dripping from his forehead and the pain killers he took weren't having any effect. With the last strength he had in his body, he got in the room. At the far end of the room he could see his father sitting at a desk surrounded by boxes while listening to the radio.

"Hi Dad!" he then collapse on the floor.

Jimmy Ford quickly turned on the chair and saw his son laying on the floor.

"Nate!" he quickly got to him. He brought a water bottle close to his lips and watched him take slow sips. "Are you hurt? You look like hell"

"Nice to see you too, Dad" Nate tried to get up, but the pain on his chest hit him hard.

"What happened to you?" his father asked concerned.

Nate shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Dad, we need to get out of here. Latimer is just using you to get to me and my crew"

Jimmy Ford got up irritated. "I'm not going until I have what I came here for so I can get my money"

"Dad, there's no money. They will just kill us both." Nate replied frustrated.

"How do you know this? I never left a job undone and I'm not going to start now" he walked back to the desk.

Nate finally managed to get up. A noise outside the door startled him. He moved as fast as he could to hide behind the door.

"Dad" he hissed, but his father was already too far away.

Soon the intruders were in. He was going to attack them but a hand stopped him. "Eliot?"

He soon noticed that the all team was there and they weren't very happy with him. Sophie closed the distance between them . He felt the slap before he had even seen her hand moving. The sound of her hand hitting his cheek echoed inside the room.

"You're an idiot." She shouted at him. "Have you got any idea how scared I was? You promised. You promised me you were going to keep yourself safe. I mean, seriously Nate? you had a heart surgery yesterday, why would you come here without telling anyone?"

"Yes, I know, but…" he tried to calm her.

"You had heart surgery?" a voice came from the back of the room.

The rest of the team noticed Jimmy Ford approaching them.

"Him?" Sophie turned towards Nate. "You came here to rescue him?"

"You said never again" pointed out Parker.

"He is my dad." Nate whispered. He looked into Sophie's eyes. "Our children's grandfather"

"I'm going to take a sweep around" Eliot informed them wanting also to get out of there.

"What are we going to do now?" Hardison asked. Since they had come here, he wanted to explore the room of misfit inventions.

Nate sighed knowing that the only way to get his father out of there was to help him.

"Okay. Parker, you help my father find this patent"

The thief groaned, but followed the older man.

"Sophie, you and Hardison try to find something helpful around here to narrow down the research."

Nate was still leaning against the wall and his eyes were unfocused. He was obviously in pain.

Sophie put a hand on the cheek she had hit. "Are you okay?" she could feel his fever at the touch.

"I don't know. I admit this hasn't really been one of my greatest ideas" he smirked.

"Just this one?" she smirked back. "Nate, please be careful" she told his seriously.

"You too." He put a hand on her womb, over their babies.

Sophie and Hardison soon found a way to narrow down the research and Parker went to look through the files. They were now looking at some of the inventions hoping to find something useful.

"What's that?" Sophie pointed at the strange plastic belly.

Hardison smirked. "That's a Mr. Sympathy, a fake pregnant belly for expectant fathers so they can feel what their wives are feeling. Do you think we should steal it for Nate?" he chuckled.

"It looks gross" she looked disgusted.

"It works. Look" he put her hand on it. "Here you can hear the heartbeat and here it kicks"

"I don't think Nate would wear it"

"It would certainly make a nice pic, though"

Suddenly they heard Eliot's voice on com. "Nate, we've got company. I've just finished beating three ex-cons. Something is not right here"

"I know" they heard Nate's response.

Nate was trying to think about all the possible outcomes. He lifted his head when he saw his father approach him and sat next to him.

"So, heart surgery?" he finally told him.

"Yeah, it happens when you have a heart attack."

"You shouldn't be here. You should be in a hospital bed."

"Well, it's too late now"

Silence.

"That woman? The brunette woman, she looks nice"

"Her name is Sophie."

"When were you going to tell me I was going to be a grandfather again?"

"You weren't exactly a great grandfather the first time. You were in prison most of the time."

Jimmy sighed. "We never actually talked about Sam. You avoided me during the funeral"

"Dad, you were there just because they gave you a day pass. You didn't know him"

"He was your son and you are my son, so of course I loved him" he told him angrily. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"I don't know, dad. Why are you here? Just so the legendary Jimmy Ford could pull one more heist?"

"I did for you, dammit. Latimer was going to kill you if I didn't."

"I don't need you. I-I don't need you to help - help me with Latimer." Nate said softly.

" Hey, I don't care whether you need me or not. You're my son. This is what I have to do."

And Nate understood his statement. He did the same thing. He went there alone so he could protect his unborn children. It's why he still blames himself for not been able to save Sam all those years aback "They're a boy and a girl" he told him out of the blue.

"What?" he asked confused.

"The babies Sophie is carrying, they are a boy and a girl. Fraternal but not identical"

Jimmy nodded slowly. "Well, congratulation Nate. You're going to be a great father again"

Then they hear police sirens coming from outside. Nate got up and went to the window. "Eliot?"

"The thugs most have trig the alarms after the followed us. Nate, it's you they are after. Dubenich is behind all this"

"What?" Nate asked confused.

"We've bugged Latimer's office and we heard him calling him"

"Dammit, guys. How do you expect me to work out a plan if I haven't got all the elements?" he hissed angrily. "Let me think. Sophie, I need someone outside. You will go outside as a liberated hostage"

"Hostage?"

"This what we're going to do!"

The plan, even if it was complicated and crazy, worked fine. They all managed to get outside with the patent. There was a big crowd outside and Nate looked around for his father.

"Where's my dad?"

Jimmy Ford had done it again and double crossed them and he took the patent with him.

"Did your father just con us with a radio and a phone?" Hardison looked impressed.

"That's my old dad. What does he have in mind?"

Sophie arrived with the van. "Guys, we have to get out of here" They all climbed at the back of the van and Sophie left the driving seat to Eliot.

Nate's phone started ringing. "Dad, where are you?" he nodded to Hardison to track the call.

"I'm going to put an end to this. I'm going to tell this Latimer or Dubenich guy to leave my son alone" Jimmy Ford walked towards a warehouse.

"Dad, listen to me. These people are dangerous, they're going to kill you"

"Don't worry, son. We'll be tossing a few in no time. No one messes with the Fords" and he hung up.

"Damn" Nate shouted frustrated. "Hardison, tell me you've track the call"

"I'm nearly there, man. Here."

"Okay, Eliot drives us there. Quickly."

Nate kept trying calling is father, but no one answered.

"Come on, dad. Pick-up" They were nearly approaching the warehouse when his father finally answered. "Dad," he shouted "Get out of there! We're nearly here"

Jimmy still had his vision blurred form the blow he received on the head. When he could finally make out something, he saw the explosive on top of the barrels with a timer going down. He had only twenty-four seconds to live and knew exactly what to do.

"No, no. you stay out. Don't come in here. I'm your father and I'm telling you to stay away"

"You have got to start walking out of the building."

"It's the first I've been able to do some of these things…. The father things."

Nate eyes started to tear up. "We're outside now. Dad get out" he jumped out of the van ignoring the cries of his team telling him to stop.

"You tell your children… tell them how much their grandfather loved their dad"

Nate stood still and watched petrified as the warehouse in front of him exploded. The force of the explosion throws him back and he can barely hear his team calling him. He struggled to sit up, covered with debris. He could feel a strong pain on his chest and blood his dripping from his month and ears.

"Nate" Eliot knelt down beside him to help and check his injuries.

Behind them Hardison was trying to stop Sophie and Parker from going any closer. He was scared of what they would find.

"I swear Hardison" Sophie grunted. "If you don't let me go, I'm going to punch you again"

Sophie managed to free herself from the hacker's grip and rushed to Nate.

"Nate?" she called him worried. Nate's eyes were unfocused and he seemed to have lot of injuries. She ran a hand over his face and it soon got covered with his blood.

"We need to take him to a hospital" Eliot told her. With Hardison help they managed to lift him up.

"Nate, can you hear me?" Sophie tried again.

"They're going to pay" he finally whispered. "Latimer and Dubenich are going to pay for what they did"


	11. Chapter 11

As soon as they reached the inside of the van, Nate fainted. They couldn't take him back to Boston, so they rushed to the nearest hospital and had Hardison work on fake IDs and story.

Two days later Nate was still lying on the hospital bed. "I need to work something out" he told Sophie frustrated trying to get out of bed

"No, you need to rest and take care of your injuries!" she pushed him back down

"He killed my father!" Nate shouted.

"I know" she sighed in resignation "I know. But right now I'm thinking about my children's father"

He hated her for using the babies card. She knew that he would do anything for them. "One more day" he finally told her. "One day and then I'm out of here!"

"Where exactly do you want to go? Latimer has our apartment under surveillance. We can't go near the bar, our apartments, his office, his house. The guys had just enough time to gather all our things and put them safe in a warehouse"

"Rentol Federal Penitentiary"

"You want to go and see Dubenich. Why?"

"He needs to know that I'm going after him. He needs to feel scared."

"The guy is already in prison, what more can you do to him?"

Nate looked at her with dark eyes and for moment she was scared that the Nathan Ford she knew had died with his father in that warehouse.

She slowly nodded. "Okay, in two days I will drive you there personally. But for now, you need to rest."

As promise, two day later Nathan Ford was waiting for Dubenich to come from his cell into the visitors area. When he saw him walking over to him, his smug grin made him angrier. Victor Dubenich needed to pay and he now it was time for Nathan Ford to work out a revenge plan.

"Hey," he clumsy man sat down. "A penny for your thoughts?"

"You've missed"

"I came close, though" he smirked. "So, how long has it been. Three years, five months and four days. How is it going? I heard you had a heart attack recently. You really should have stayed in bed to rest"

"You are going to regret this."

"Well, Nate. All what a man has, it's three things; his business, his possessions and his name. You take all that away… any man would kill"

Nate got closer to the glass separating them.

"Oh, you don't scare me Nate. I'm scared of you. But aren't you a little bit scared of me. After all, I know all of your secrets" He smiled. "How is Miss Devereaux? And by the way, congratulations on the babies"

This infuriated Nate, he wished he could just reach out and punch the guy.

"You stay away from them." He hissed angrily.

"Oh, I see I've hit a nerve!"

"What's all this about?"

"Well, Nate. It's about consequences. You can't walk this Earth playing judge and jury with people's life and not suffer consequences."

"You brought this to yourself. You've tried to kill me and my team"

"Your team? They are my team. I've put them together and then I handled them to you and I bet I know them better than you"

"You're wrong! Because they are not only my team, they are my family. And I'm going to let you hurt my family."

"We'll see about that. For three years I've been preparing for this day."

"Well, you'll have to do better."

"Better that killing your father. Wow, though room"

Nate couldn't take it anymore. "Do you remember when I said to you the next time we would meet I wouldn't be so nice"

"Yes?"

"Okay, welcome to the next time!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"There is no way I'm leaving you all behind" Sophie said firmly.

Nate paced up and down in the hotel room they were staying in. They've managed to get the all penthouse floor. "He know about you and the babies. He threatened you!"

"Nate, I'm not leaving you behind. End of discussion"

He sighed frustrated. "Okay, but you're not getting out of this room. I need you to stay away from the action."

"Okay." They finally agreed.

"I really can't convince you to go to Paris with Tara" he tried one last time this time going for a more gentle approach.

"Nate" she replied sternly.

"Okay," he brushed some hair out of her face. "Okay" and he gave one lingering kiss.

The heard one knock at the door, soon followed by someone entering.

"Parker!" Sophie groaned in frustration.

"What? I've knocked" she shrugged sitting on the bed.

"You're supposed to wait for someone to tell you it's okay to come in" Sophie explained.

"I don't get it"

"So boss," Hardison sat next to Parker. "What's the plan?"

Eliot, Tara and Maggie were there too.

"The main objective is this" he moved to the screen. "Bellington Dam. That's the weak point. Latimer has all control of the pipelines, water rights, dams. We take that away from him and then all the rest."

"Yeah, but we can't pull a con on him. He knows us" Eliot pointed out.

"We need back up"

"Hey" Tara put her hands up. "I'm blown too. I'm on the list too after we've bugged his office"

"No, Tara. I need you to stay with Sophie"

"I don't need a babysitter!"

"It's more like a bodyguard. As for the rest of you, you find someone who we don't trust, who is not our friend, who is not in the game"

They all understood who he meant.

"Oh, no" Hardison shook his head. "There is no way I'm going to work with him"

"Hardison, please. Just for this job. We need him" That had been the key word "please" Nate never uses it.

They took them at least a day to find and bring their back up. The room was overly full with Quinn, Eliot's back up; Chaos, Hardison's old nemesis and Archie Leach, Parker's mentor.

"So have you all understood the plan?" Nate had just finished exposing to them his complicated plan to take down Latimer. He actually had to thank Dubenich for giving him the idea.

"I'm sorry that you have to get involved too, Maggie, but we need a grifter."

"It's no problem Nate, I'm happy to help."

"I don't want surprises. One thing must be clear, though. No one, and I mean no one touches Victor Dubenich. He is mine" Said that, Nate left the room and went to balcony.

Everybody else looked worried. That was not the Nathan Ford they knew. After a moment, Sophie got up and followed him. Nate was loading a gun with bullets.

"Your father's gun"

Nate ignored her.

"I don't have a lot of rules in this world," Sophie continued. "three actually. Don't count the money until after the con, no enter and walk away from a con…"

"The Gambler?" Nate interrupter her with a small smile. "You're basing your life philosophy on a Kenny Rogers's song?"

She glared at him " and don't get involved with a murderer"

Nate looked down nearly ashamed.

"Please, don't do this. He's not worth it."

"He killed my father!"

"He's not worth you ending up in prison and not seeing our children grow."

"I might not get arrested"

"Yes, but the guilt will eat you out one day at the time and you will no longer be the same man I fell in love with."

Nate sighed and put his head down. "I don't know what to do. I'm so angry. He can't get away with what he has done."

"And he won't" Sophie knelt in front of him and took his face in her hands. "But killing him in cold blood won't bring your father back"

Nate looked down and the gun and put the safe it on. "Here" he handled it to her. "You take it. I might be tempted to use it the next time I see his smug face"

She slowly took the gun away from him. "Thank you" she whispered.

"You're right, he is not worth it. I don't think I could live seeing the disgust and disappointment in your eyes."

"No matter what we'll get through this, together" she leaned her forehead against his.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The job went according to plan. First they took down the dams with the clams, then they stole all his valuables, and then, thanks to Maggie, they drugged and sent Latimer to the Caymans and he was now wanted for conspiracy for the trades he had made against the companies they took down.

All Latimer's money had been transferred to their accounts. Nate and the others were celebrating their success while entering their suit.

"Hey, Sophie!" Nate called out.

He started panicking when he saw Tara lying down unconscious. He kneeled next to her to check for a pulse. "She's alive!"

Eliot was in full alert mode, he checked all the rooms in case the intruders where still there. "All clear!"

"Help me with Tara"

They both picked up the grifter and laid her on the couch. "Tara!" he called her "Tara, wake up"

Tara moaned and tried to her eyes. She had nasty cut on her forehead and she had received quite a blow on the back of her neck. "Sophie." she groaned. "They took Sophie"

"Who?" Nate was desperate.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before losing consciousness again.

"She's out Nate!" Eliot confirmed "She needs to go to a hospital."

Suddenly Nate's phone rang and quickly answered.

"Nate" it was Victor Dubenich's voice. "Are you missing someone?"

"If you hurt her…" Nate was now furious.

"Nothing will happen to your little grifters and the babies if you do as I say."

"What do you want?"

"You. This has always been about you. Meet me at the Bellington's Dam. Don't be late" he told him with a playful singing voice.

Nate started furiously looking through the drawers until he found what he was looking for; his father's gun.

"You take Tara to a hospital, I'll take care of this."

"No, Nate" Eliot stopped him. "This involves us too. We are a family. I'm not going to let you go alone."

"It's me he wants!"

"We either have each other's backs or we don't" Parker told him

"You can't go there without a plan" the hitter shouted.

"You're the retrieval specialist. Get Sophie. I'll distract Dubenich."

"You're going to get yourself killed, man" Hardison shook his head.

"Sophie is the priority!"

They arrived at the dam in separate cars. Nate was the first to go in. He knew where he would find the man.

"If you're looking for the patent, it's not there" Nate told him behind him.

Dubenich turned around quickly. "Get him" he ordered the thugs that were with him.

Nate started running hearing the gunshots behind him. He couldn't run very fast, his body was still weak.

In the other part of the building Eliot, Parker and Hardison were making their way to where they were keeping Sophie. With the last of the three thugs down, they got Sophie free who had been handcuffed to one of the pipes.

"Where is Nate?" she asked rubbing her sore wrists.

They heard they gunshots being fired.

"Let's go!" they started running towards them.

Nate kept slowly running on the metal platform. He felt a sharp pain on the back of his left shoulder. He stumbled and saw Dubenich pointing a gun at him. He slowly made his way on top of a rock that led to the waterfalls.

"You can't run Nate!" Dubenich had him at gun point.

He slowly turned around with his hand up. "How is all this working out for you Victor?"

"Okay, thanks. Oh, you mean there's no patent, no water filter. Thanks for your concern, but all I wanted was you. Now you can gloat me to death." He raised his gun ready to shoot.

"You know, the thing about you is that when you're angry you forget about the little details."

"No, I'm good" he pressed the trigger. But the gun didn't fire.

"Like counting bullets" Nate finished. He pulled out his gun from the waist band of his trousers. "This one, though, my father's gun, has five bullets. I'm quite certain of it."

"If you kill me who's going to save your girlfriend."

"My team has already taken care of that"

Dubenich lowered his head defeated. "I don't think you're going to do it" he then looked him straight in his eyes. "You're not a killer, Nate"

"No, I'm not, but it's people like you that can change a man."

"You didn't even kill the man who didn't save your own son."

"Like I've said, I'm a changed man" he pointed the gun at him ready to shoot. But something stopped him. He felt a pair of familiar eyes behind him. He turned around and saw Sophie and the rest of the team watching him from a platform. The message in her eyes was clear, even the subtle hand resting on her womb. He started to lower the gun. Seeing his hesitation Dubenich jumped on top of him, going for the gun.

"Nate" Sophie shouted.

The two men fought rolling on the ground trying to get control of the gun. They were getting closer to the edge of the cliff. With one last roll, Dubenich fell down and landed 30 meters below. Nate was out of breath and he was panting in pain. Because of the force of the water, he couldn't see the man's body below. With the last bit of his strength, he got up and threw the gun down the cliff.

The others were making their way to him. Sophie ran to hug him. Nate moaned in pain at the impact.

"Sorry, Sorry" she whispered lightly touching the gunshot wound.

"Are you okay?" he asked running his hands down her cheeks.

"I'm fine. It's you who needs to be checked. Come on"

She led him to some rocks and they sat down. Sensing that the couple needed some privacy; Eliot, Hardison and Parker walked away admiring the beautiful landscape around them.

"Let me see" Sophie started unbuttoning his shirt to examine the wound. It's a through and through. It needs stiches, but for now I only have this." She put a hankie chief on the bleeding wound.

"I'm glad you're okay" he told. "If anything had happen to you…"

"Shh, It's okay. I'm here" she palmed his cheek. "I'm glad you didn't pull the trigger."

"For a moment I thought about it, but then I've realized I'm not father. I can't live like him, I could lose everything I have and you and the babies are the most important things for me." He paused. "I've got to make some changes"

"What kind of changes?" she was curious but at the same time scared.

"I've got plans"

"Oh, and that never goes wrong." She teased him.

He laughed. "Very big plans"

"Such as?"

He leaned down to kiss her passionately. She ran her hands through his hair at the base of his neck. All their emotions, all their needs were wrapped up in that kiss.

"Marry me?" he whispered to her once their lips separated.

"What?" she asked surprised.

"I want to marry you, the mother of my children, the woman I love"

"Yes" she finally answered smiling.

"Okay." He smiled and stole one more kiss.


	12. Epilogue

Sophie slowly woke up from her night sleep. It hadn't been a very comfortable sleep, since her nearly nine months pregnant belly didn't really leave many options to manoeuvre.

"Good morning, Mrs Ford" she heard Nate whispered in her ear.

Smiling, she turned around to face him. "Good morning, Mr Devereaux."

He chuckled at their own going joke and gave her a small peck on the lips. "Did you sleep well?"

"For a certain part of the night. I'm sure these two are taking it in turns to disturb their mother's sleep."

He gently laid a hand on her prominent abdomen and started caressing it. He felt one of the babies kicking his hand. "I think someone else is already up this morning"

"Hmm…" she laid back down, relaxed by her husband's touch.

Husband? Who would have thought that? After their ordeal with Latimer and Dubenich, the team had decided to move from Boston, agreeing that it was too dangerous to stay there. They soon moved to Portland, which had been the setting of some of their cons. Nate and Sophie moved to a quiet house. They even managed to finish decorating the babies' room. Of course they couldn't keep the team away. So the first floor of the house was part office and part a living area to share with the team. They were used to sharing meals all together that they didn't want to break the tradition.

Nate sat up. "I'm going to get washed and then I'll prepare breakfast. Would you like something in particular?"

"Hmm…" she thought about it. "Your babies want pancakes with blueberries."

"Are you sure it's my babies that want pancakes not their mother who sometimes has a sweet tooth?"

She rolled her eyes mischievously. "Maybe…"

He gave her another small peck while leaning over the bed. "Okay, let me go get ready and then pancakes" he walked in the bathroom.

"Love you" she shouted after him.

"Yeah, Yeah…"

They babies were particularly active that morning. "Hey little ones, what are you doing in there? Exercises? Have you been listening to uncle Eliot?"

Nate made his way downstairs to start cooking breakfast, she could hear him going through the cupboards. Then she felt it, a sharp pain at her abdomen. Then another one.

"Nate!" she shouted. "Nate" now she was panicking.

Nate came rushing up the stairs. "What? What's wrong?"

Sophie got up from the bed holding her belly. "The babies"

"Is something wrong?"

"I think they are coming"

"You're having contractions?" now he was panicking. "Okay," he took a deep breath. "You get dressed, I'll get the bag from the cupboard and then get the car"

She felt another sharp pain. "Hurry!"

In the meanwhile Nate called the team too telling them to reach them at the hospital. Twenty minutes later Nate and Sophie were entering the hospital.

"Mrs Ford" Nate told the nurse. "Doctor Stone is expecting us"

"Yes," the nurse nodded. "There's a room ready for you"

They followed her to the room and Nate helped Sophie get in the bed. After a minute doctor Stone marched in.

"So Sophie, it's seems your babies have decided to join us early." She smiled. "Let's see how it's going" She attached Sophie to a machine and examined her. "Yes, these are definitely contractions, but it's going to be a long wait before you're fully dilated. I'll be back in a couple of hours to see how things are progressing."

"A couple of hours?" Sophie shouted. " I can't go through this for another two hours? Can't I have pain killers or something?"

Elizabeth chuckled " I see what I can do. But it's going to be a long day"

Nate tried to calm her Sophie, but she was definitely in full mood. "Don't come near me!" He backed off.

The team came in. "Hey are the babies here?" Parker asked cheerfully.

"Out" Sophie shouted pointing at the door.

Nate tried to push the three members out of the door. "Guys, let's go outside"

"What's up with her?" Hardison asked slightly offended.

"You try going through contractions and see if you're cheerful then"

Eliot had read all about pregnancy, in case of an emergency delivery. He even took Nate's place in some of Sophie's Lamaze and parenting classes when her husband couldn't join her. Parker went for one class, but it had been a total disaster, so she had been banned to go there.

"The doctor just told her that's going to be at least a couple of hours. I don't think it will be time to deliver until this afternoon."

"You're joking right?" Hardison raised his eyebrow. "Does it really take that long?"

"The pain I have to go through for a few minutes of pleasure" Sophie shouted from the back of the door. When she wanted she could hear anything.

Nate looked down embarrassed. He remembered this part with Maggie. Maggie had even said worst things to him, but Sophie was only at the beginning. He was sure she was going to beat his ex-wife.

"Nate, get your ass back in here" It was going to be long day for him too. He took a deep breath and put a smile on. "If I come back alive, I'll see you later"

The others were definitely going to stay away from Sophie, they certainly didn't envy their mastermind.

"Yes love, what can I do for you?"

"Could you bring something to drink, please?"

There was a jug full over water on a table and he filled a glass. "Here you are." He gave to her.

"Thanks" she told him after taking a few sips. "I'm sorry about before." She started crying. "I don't really know what's happening to me"

"It's okay" he brushed her tears away. "I'm here for you. You can use me as punch bag as much as you like"

She smiled. "Thank you" she kissed him briefly.

The hours passed. Elizabeth Stone came to check on Sophie a couple of times, but still no sign of the babies. The rest of the team was getting bored outside the room. They had even managed to pull off a small heist to someone who was bullying the gift shop owner in the hospital.

"Okay, it's time" doctor Stone finally said. "So, when I tell you I need you to push as hard as you can. Nate, hold her hand."

Sophie gripped Nate's hand tightly.

"Push!"

And she pushed. And it was the most hurtful and difficult experience she had ever had. "Oh God, it hurts. Nate, if you think you ever going to have sex again, you're dreaming"

"Yes dear" he patronized her. He saw Elizabeth's nod. "Just one more bug push, okay?"

After a minute they could hear a baby cry.

"Here it is." Elizabeth told them happily. " The little boy is out first." She hold him up for them to see.

"Oh, Nate" Sophie started crying. She had a son.

Nate just couldn't believe it. He was a father again. He looked stunned.

"So dad, are you coming to cut the umbilical cord?" Stone asked him.

With a slight nod of encouragement from Sophie, he went to officially bring his son in to the world. Once he was done the nurse took him away to clean him, weight him and check that everything was okay.

Sophie felt another contraction.

"Well, it's seems that his sister is going to join us too."

This delivery was faster and they soon heard their daughter cry. Once they were all checked, including the mother, the nurse passed the two babies to their exciting parents.

Nate was holding his daughter to his chest, while Sophie was admiring their son. "We did good Nate" she whispered to him.

"We certainly did." His daughter was as a beautiful as her mother, she was a mini version of her, including her deep chocolate brown eyes. He could see so little of him in her, maybe the little hair she had. Yes, she was going to have untamed curly hair, like him.

He looked down at his son already nursing from his mother. He was definitely his son. All his features screamed Ford, including his blue eyes.

When everything was cleared, Elizabeth took one last glimpse at them. "We're going to leave you to rest now."

"No," protested Sophie. "First they need to meet the rest of the family"

"Okay, but as soon as your ready call the nurse and then she should fill the birth certificates too."

She left the room and Eliot, Hardison and Parker came inside.

"Is it safe now?" asked Parker uncertainly.

"Yes," Sophie smiled. "Come and meet your nephew and niece"

Parker sat on the bed next too Sophie. "Oh, they are so tiny" she looked amazed.

Sophie had just finished feeding her son and leaned over to pass him to Parker. "Here, hold him"

Parker was at first unsure, but when Sophie showed her how to hold him she experienced the most wonderful feeling of the world, after flying of course.

"Have they got a name yet?" Hardison asked spying behind Nate's shoulder to look at the peaceful baby girl sleeping in his arms.

"Who's going to tell them?" Nate smirked.

"Come on, already" Eliot grunted.

"Well" Sophie began. "Meet Ainsley Corinne Ford and Joshua James Ford."

"Ainsley and J.J." Parker repeated it. " I like it"

"Welcome to the family, Leverage babies"

THE END


End file.
